Lock and Load
by KilljoysMakeSomeNoise
Summary: What if there was an extra person on our favorite zombie-fighting team? Well, Hotaru Koizumi joins the team while they are stuck on the bus. She is tough, but will she last during this zombie apocalypse? Goes along the anime story line. (Hirano/OC Romance)
1. Introducing: An Unexpected Visitor

A/N:

Okay, guys. This is my new story for HOTD and yes, it's a Hirano love story. I loved his character and I wanted to make a story with him.

This chapter starts in episode 5 while the gang is still on the bus.

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool of the Dead.

Onto the story!

* * *

"Exactly, that's why we should secure a safe place first; Then make moves together rather than making random moves on our own. Isn't that why you voted a leader? Truly….."

The teacher, Mr. Shido was motivating his bunch of students, or "brain-washed followers" as they seemed to be. Hirano had fallen asleep in his chair next to Takagi, and Saeko was resting in the seat in front of them. Miss Shizuka was sitting in the driver's seat, waiting for the cars before the bus to move. They were all bored out of their minds, and the pervert teacher talking behind them wasn't helping anything.

"Hirano, stop," Takagi harshly nudged the boy awake, fed up with his snoring.

"Takagi, good morning! Is it time to get already?"

"Yes, it's morning. Ugh, and you're drooling." She scoffed in disgust at the saliva dripping down his face.

The chubby boy wiped it away with his sleeve and apologized. He looked out of the window to his right at the civilians trying to get to safety. "Look at that!" He said in surprise. "I think it's better to evacuate to the suburbs."

"Cars are not the only way to get out of here," Takagi pointed her finger at him, proving his comment wrong. They looked out of the window again, this time at the airplane flying away in the sky.

"The airport on the ocean, you're right."

"It's far too dangerous to be anywhere in the city. I bet a bunch of people are trying to escape to some island, or some isolated area with some kind of strong military presence or something."

"Like Okinawa? But the American military that's stationed there isn't there to fight…" He realized something. "Oh, but their self-defense forces!"

Takagi thought about it. "If the American military has taken appropriate measures, then I'm betting Hokkaido or Kyushu should be okay, too. If planes are leaving, then all the flights are heading to those areas."

Hirano grinned. "So you think maybe we should head that way, too?"

"It's too late! The areas with heavy presence of self-defense forces and American military may be managing to keep _them_ under control, but I'm sure they've already started to adopt a stern policy towards letting anybody else in." She realized something, "No. Sooner or later, it's going to be that way everywhere in the world. I mean, what would you do in the same situation?"

"I'd seclude myself."

"What would happen if everyone in the world started thinking that way? What if they start focusing on keeping their community as small as possible in order to survive?"

Hirano gulped. "You really ask some very relevant questions, you know that?"

"What are you talking about?" Takagi pointed at the teacher practically molesting one of the girls at the back of the bus, "You can already see that in him. Although, I doubt that he knows it himself."

She turned back to the boy next to her. "You know, this all happened over night."

Hirano clutched his makeshift nail gun, disgusted with the events occurring in the back end of the bus. "Should I interrupt them?"

"Forget the pervy teacher and slutty little Sally over there. I should consult with someone that I could trust," Takagi sighed. "Geez, I could have talked to Komuro if he were here."

Hirano glanced out the window in annoyance. "Yeah, you like Komuro. I know."

Takagi blushed at his statement. "Don't be ridiculous!"

She gasped at the sudden presences on her other side and turned to see Saeko and Miss Shizuka. The school nurse let out a quiet "aww" at her reaction.

Saeko spoke first. "I'm getting worried about Komuro and the others. I hope they can hold on until we meet up."

They watched as some kids who tried to get over the bridge were blasted into the river with a big hose. Mr. Shido continued his motivational speech in the back.

"I know we're no longer in school, but I hope that you would all continue to live with the pride that your school has instilled in each and every one of you."

He gestured exaggeratedly and smirked.

* * *

"Pride of unity! It is that pride that will keep us together. Not the glorious pride in ourselves but pride as a group, a family. And realize this, my dear friends. Komuro and Miyamoto were unfit to be in our family."

Takagi glared at the teacher from the front of the bus where she was sitting with Saeko and Miss Shizuka. "This guy is a goddamn maniac."

"You got that right," Saeko agreed with her. "Sounds like he is a recruiter from some kind of cult religious group."

"It doesn't just sound like it, it is. And look at the slobbering idiots hanging on his every word, like a bunch of scientologists. Or, rather, Shidotologists. I need to get out of here."

Saeko glanced out at the civilians passing by. "Given the condition on the road, it looks like we're going to have to give up our ride."

She put her hand to her chin, thinking about it. "We have to somehow get across Onbetsu Bridge and get to the east police station. We're still supposed to meet up with Komuro."

Takagi adjusted her glasses. "Hmm, you're sure quite concerned about Komuro, aren't you? Aren't you worried about your _own_ family?"

Saeko looked back at Takagi. "'Course I am! But my father is my only family, and he's at the dojo overseas. So the only people I really need to be worrying about right now is myself and Komuro. I really don't care about anybody else."

Takagi growled in annoyance.

"And just look at me," Saeko continued. "I mean, seriously. If any of us are going to get out of here alive, it's going to be me, right?"

Takagi laughed weakly.

Miss Shizuka turned around in the driver's seat. "So, where is everyone's house?"

"The other side of the bridge; the same area with Komuro's," Takagi answered first.

Hirano stood up to speak. "Oh, my parents aren't in the neighborhood," he blushed and continued on, "But, I'd- I'd go anywhere as long as I'm with Takage."

Takagi looked at him with disgust. "Ewww."

"So, tell me Hirano," Saeko interjected, "where's your family? Are they close?"

Hirano continued on to tell them his family's occupations and whereabouts in other countries. Takagi was annoyed and didn't believe him, "Ugh, why couldn't he be better looking?"

The school nurse got up from her seat and addressed the teens. "So, what are we gonna do? I want to come along with all of you!"

"Are you sure?" Takagi asked.

Miss Shizuka opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted. There were loads thumping noises coming from outside of the bus, directly behind it to be exact. Mr. Shido stopped his lecturing momentarily and gaped at whatever he saw. Everyone migrated to the back so they could look out of the back window.

"What-What is that? What are they doing?"

"They'll get themselves hurt!"

"Isn't that illegal?"

They were all questioning what they were seeing. Could there really be a person leaping from one car roof to the next?

The person car parkouring was rapidly approaching. Finally, they reached the car directly behind the bus and jumped towards the giant vehicle. They caught the edge of the roof and quickly pulled themselves up, climbing safely onto the top.

For a minute, the students and teachers heard nothing. Then they heard quiet footsteps heading towards the front of the bus. Miss Shizuka, Saeko, Takagi and Hirano walked slowly along with the unknown person and stopped as they stopped. They were directly in front of the door.

Suddenly, a head popped over the side of the bus, peering at them through the glass bus doors. Miss Shizuka and the students screamed in surprise at the girl smiling at them. The girl opened her mouth when the group finally stopped screaming, and said something to them.

"What?" Miss Shizuka questioned, since they could not hear her clearly through the glass.

The girl patted the door, asking them without words to open it for her.

Miss Shizuka understood and hurried to the controls, searching for the correct lever. When she finally found it, she pulled it which caused the doors to swing outwards. The mysterious girl quickly pulled herself back onto the roof to avoid being hit, and called for them to get out of the way.

The students moved further into the aisle, just in time to avoid being crushed by the girl. She had swung herself off of the roof and through the door, landing uneasily on her feet and stumbling from her rough landing.

She looked around at the people gaping at her, grinning in excitement. She held her hand up in a small wave and introduced herself.

"Hi! I'm Hotaru Koizumi. Could I join you on this bus?"

They just continued staring at her, stunned into silence by her unexpected entrance.

* * *

A/N:

Well, that's it for now.

Another chapter probably won't be available for two weeks, 'cause I have finals and I'll continue writing when summer starts. I decided to upload it now because I'll probably forget to if I don't.

Anyway, please comment. I wanna know what you think.

See you later!

Jules


	2. Introducing: Hotaru Koizumi

"Who the _hell_ are you?!"

The newcomer turned towards Takagi and gave her a questioning look. "I already said who I am. I'm Hotaru Koizumi. Did I not say it loud enough?"

Takagi scowled at the girl for her sarcasm and sized her up. Hotaru gave off a mysterious and slightly intimidating vibe. She was wearing brown jeans and a black t-shirt with a camouflage-patterned vest over top. On her feet were black combat boots that reached up to her knees. She wore fingerless leather gloves and sunglasses sitting on top of her blue hair, which was pulled into a high ponytail. Her bangs framed her face, making her violet eyes pop.

Yes, she was very intimidating. Especially with the gun she held in her hand.

Mr. Shido scooted past the students and teacher and stood in front of the girl. He eyed her for a moment, cautious of the weapons she possessed. He held his hand out to her and bowed deeply in greeting. "Hello, Miss Koizumi. It would be a pleasure for a beautiful, young girl like you to join us on this bus."

The girl grimaced as he kissed her hand and backed away, not so subtly wiping it on her pants. "Yeah, uh, please don't do that."

He smirked at her and turned towards the other passengers. "Well, students, we have a new team member! I expect you to be nice to her."

He put his arm around her shoulders and led her to the back of the bus. Before they could get there, Hotaru ducked under his arm and walked back up the aisle. She shivered in disgust and sat down in one of the seats.

Mr. Shido glared at her for a moment before continuing on in the direction of his loyal followers.

* * *

"Why did you come on this bus?"

Hotaru looked at Takagi, the girl who had asked a dumb question earlier. "I needed a ride across the bridge. I don't need to be on this side of the city anymore, so why not go to the other side?"

"Couldn't you have just walked there? Why come to our bus?"

She scowled at her. "You look smart, figure it out yourself."

The pink haired girl crossed her arms and looked away, huffing in annoyance. She didn't want to deal with some stupid smartass.

Hirano snuck up behind Takagi and marveled at Hotaru's guns. He giggled and pointed to the gun sitting next to her and the one strapped to her back. "Is that a Glock 17? Oh, and is that an AR-15? Those are amazing guns! I used them when I trained in America."

She grinned at the mention of her prized possessions and sat up straight, allowing him to examine her guns. "Yeah, they were birthday presents from my dad five years ago. He was in the U.N., so he was able to pull some strings and get these for me. They were my absolute favorites when he taught me how to shoot. I have a couple other models in my bag. I could show them to you sometime…."

Takagi and Saeko sweat dropped as the two began a heated discussion on the pros and cons of certain guns Hotaru has. Miss Shizuka walked up to them. "Um, guys?"

They all turned around, Hirano and Hotaru looking annoyed that their conversation was interrupted. "Yes?" They all said in unison.

"Well, before Hotaru came arrived, we were talking about what we were going to do from here."

"Oh, yes. We should continue discussing that," Saeko agreed. "You were going to say something, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was! Um….. Oh, I remember now! What I was going to say is that I want to come with you, and both my parents passed away years ago. All of my other relatives live far away."

Hotaru frowned. "I'm sorry about your parents. My mom also died a couple years back."

Miss Shizuka smiled sadly at her, accepting her condolences while also expressing her own. She then turned back to the others, "I know I shouldn't be saying this, but I… I think Mr. Shido is kind of a douchebag." The teens giggled.

"So, what do we do? I'm not very familiar with this area."

Takagi glanced at Saeko, who had asked the question. "We really need to check on Onbetsu Bridge first."

"Um… what's the matter everyone?" Mr. Shido turned towards the group at the front. "We really need to work together; otherwise none of us are going to…"

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to pass, Mr. Shido. We've got our own plans," Takagi smirked at him. "And FYI, this is no field trip. I have no obligation to be with you. I never had any classes with you anyway."

"I see," he smiled and formed a bridge with his hands. "If that's what you've decided, go right on ahead. I'm not stopping you, Takagi. How could I? This is a free country, not some sort of iron-fisted dictatorship. However," He laughed and licked his lips, "I'm afraid you will have to remain, Miss Marikawa."

Miss Shizuka gasped.

"Losing the doctor is a major blow to our current situation. Would you please stay? What do you say?" He walked forward towards the small group. "There are students who are relying on you…"

He was interrupted by a nail scratching his cheek. Hirano stood there, nail gun ready to be fired again.

"You-You shot at me!"

"I missed you on purpose, you douchebag."

"But you-you're not a violent student like that!"

"How many of my fellow students do you think I killed in school yesterday? And I can kill you too, for all the ways you always made fun of me!" He shouted. "I was holding back. I was holding back for a long time. I was holding it back because I just wanted to have a normal life! But there's no need to do that anymore! Nothing we know is normal anymore; that's why I'm able to kill now! I can even kill living people, too. Maybe start by the ones who make fun of me." He took aim at the teacher.

Mr. Shido backed up nervously, trying to get away from the angry boy. "I made fun? You misunderstood! I've always held you in such high esteem."

Hirano turned towards his group. "If you wanna go, go; now's the time to do it. I'll make sure he doesn't stop you."

Saeko smirked at him. "You're such a man. I'm impressed."

Hotaru looked stunned at his skill with the makeshift gun, "Yeah… Hotaru's impressed too."

They all ran off the bus and up the stairs that led to the bridge above them. Meanwhile, inside the bus, Mr. Shido growled in annoyance. They had just ruined everything.

* * *

"Um, maybe we were better off staying on the bus with Mr. Shido. Just throwing that out there!" Miss Shizuka and Takagi backed up towards the safety railings on the side of the bridge. Currently, Hirano and Hotaru were shooting at the zombies surrounding them, and Saeko was smashing their heads with her wooden sword.

"Hold on," Takagi smirked up at the nurse, "weren't you the one who thought he was a douchebag?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. But he wouldn't be the first douchebag I was stuck on a bus with."

They turned towards Hirano when they heard him yell. "Just to let you know, I'm running out of the nails."

Saeko finished off the zombies on her side and turned towards Hirano, gesturing with her sword. "Do you want to borrow this?"

He grimaced. "I really don't do hand to hand combat…"

She smirked at his response. "I can't say the same. I'm actually quite fond of it."

"You know, I could let you borrow my extra handgun!" Hotaru exclaimed, wanting to help her fellow gunman. After she shot her final zombie, she carefully set her shotgun on the ground and knelt next to it. Digging through her messenger bag, she found the spare gun. She tossed it and a couple rounds of ammo towards Hirano, who grinned at her.

"Ok! Thanks."

Suddenly, Takagi screamed as a lone zombie stumbled towards her. Miss. Shizuka tackled her, trying to save her from being injured or killed. Before the other teens could do anything, though, they saw a motorcycle flew through the air towards them.

"Holy shit!" Saeko and Hirano exclaimed in amazement.

Hotaru, on the other hand, said something less vulgar. "Holy shitake mushrooms!"

Takagi looked at her in annoyance, but had no time to say anything as a girl jumped off the motorcycle and killed some of the zombies surrounding them. The boy on the motorcycle drove towards Hirano to throw him his gun, but saw he already had one. Hirano shot some of the zombies in front of him, almost hitting the boy on the motorcycle.

Motorcycle guy, as Hotaru decided to call him, swerved his bike and knocked some of the zombies over the side of the bridge. He then drove towards Saeko and yelled to her, "Give me a hand!"

Saeko grabbed his outstretched hand and she swung midair in a circle and knocked away three of the zombies, landing perfectly. Hotaru gapped at the incredible teamwork they displayed. "I repeat: holy shitake mushrooms."

Saeko got up from her crouch and turned towards her group. "Looks like it's all clear now."

Miss Shizuka smiled. "They sure were tough to beat."

"Tough for everyone but you, maybe." Takagi said in reply.

Hotaru, who stood near the pink-haired girl, gave her an annoyed look. "Well, it's not like you did anything, either." Takagi gave a huff and turned away.

The brown haired girl who was on the motorcycle ran towards the school nurse. "Miss Shizuka!"

They hugged and everyone gathered around them. Saeko approached the boy with the motorcycle. "This must mean Tokonosu Bridge is also blocked."

The boy turned towards her and smiled a bit. "Right, there's no way out."

"I have to confess… I'm really glad you're okay Komuro."

"Glad you're alright, too. "

The brown haired girl got a bit angry at this exchange. Before she could do anything, Takagi approached the boy and glared at him. "What about me?"

"Uh, I'm glad you're okay too! All of you!" He turned towards Hirano. "What are you doing?"

Hirano straightened up from a crouch and aimed his gun at different places. "Hotaru! This is an amazing gun! Where did you get it? Isn't it a SIG Sauer P320? They use those in the U.S. law enforcement system!"

The girl he mentioned ran over to him and nodded. "Yeah, it is! As I said before, my dad used to work in the U.N., and one of his buddies was able to get it for him. I took it from his special weapons vault when this all started…" They kept conversing about her dad's collection of foreign guns and the others, excluding the newcomers who just looked at them in confusion, groaned.

"Not again!"


	3. Introducing: The Big Guns

They all gathered around by the river to discuss their next moves. Before they could actually discuss things, Hotaru noticed the brown haired girl from the motorcycle staring at her in confusion. The girl leaned over towards motorcycle boy and whispered quickly to him. "Who's that? I've never seen her before."

Motorcycle boy looked at were the girl was not-so-subtly pointing at Hotaru. He shrugged and replied, "We should ask them. Seems like they know who she is."

But, Hotaru already beat her to it. "So, guys, who are these badass people? Seems like you know them already!"

Hirano turned towards her and smiled. "Oh yeah! That's Rei Miyamoto and Takashi Komuro. Rei and Takashi, this is Hotaru Koizumi."

Hotaru waved at Rei and Takashi in greeting. Rei waved back while Takashi nodded towards her. Takashi then looked at Saeko, waiting for an explanation on what had occurred since they had been separated.

"We got off the bus because the road was blocked. But, we haven't been able to cross the river." Saeko explained to the newcomers. At least, they were newcomers to Hotaru.

Takashi walked up the steps, away from the river and faced Rei and Takashi. "The water has risen. So going farther upstream won't help, I guess."

"I have a thought! It's been such a stressful day; why don't we just call it quits for now?" Miss Shizuka suggested.

"Call it a day?" Hirano asked.

"Why, yes! My friend's flat is nearby. It's just a short walk from here."

"Your boyfriend's place?" Takagi questioned.

The nurse freaked out at the assumption. "Oh! No no no no! It's nothing like that! It's just my girlfriend's apartment. She's always busy working and traveling with her job. She gave me a key so that I could go there and look after the place when she's away."

"Is it a high-rise? Does it have a good view of the surroundings?" Hirano asked, maing sure it was a good place to stay.

"Oh, yeah! It's a duplex standing along the river. There's a convenience store nearby, too."

Then she remembered something else. "Oh! And a car! You know that one that looks like a tank? The thing that drinks gas? Big! The really big one."

"I don't care about a car as much as a shower," Takagi sighed, rubbing her neck. "I don't think I've ever felt dirtier in my life."

Hirano blushed, looking at the pink haired girl. "I couldn't agree with you more…"

Takagi kicked him and yelled, "What do you mean by that?!"

Hotaru looked at the sky in thought. "I've actually been in situations where I got dirtier! Let me tell you, the Amazon Rainforest is not fun to get lost in. It has a lot of mud and quicksand. And deadly bugs and snakes."

Everyone sweat-dropped at her confession. "How did you manage that?" Takagi asked.

"Well, my Dad was reassigned to South America, specifically the Amazon Rainforest, to settle some small conflict that had arisen there. We were walking through the forest with the other military families when I saw something moving in the bushes and followed it. Wasn't my best idea, but oh well! I was only seven years old. I didn't know any better."

"Anyway," Takashi said slowly, "I'll go check on the place with her. Come on, let's go."

"Oh! Ok," Miss Shizuka said, a bit surprised.

* * *

They had finally gotten to the duplex, and the girls had decided to take a bath. Well, everyone except Hotaru.

Saeko walked up to her while they were heading to the bathroom. "Come on, Hotaru. We're just gonna clean up and relax after all that's happened. It'll be fun."

"Uh, no thanks. I don't feel comfortable taking a bath with people I don't know well. I mean, I just met you guys. For all I know, you could be planning to molest me in there."

Saeko frowned at her distrust, "We aren't going to molest you!"

"Well, I'm sure you won't. But, I'm not liking the look _her_ face."

They looked over at Rei. She was standing in the doorway of the washroom, urging the other girls to hurry up. Saeko shrugged and started walking towards the room. "Your loss."

"Well, I could always just take a bath alone after you guys are done."

Saeko sighed and waved towards the blue haired girl, saying that she'd talk to her later.

After the door closed, Hotaru could hear the giggling start up. She cringed and walked towards the room where the boys were in. She couldn't even imagine what was going on in there, and she definitely did not want to.

* * *

"Sounds like their having fun," Takashi said, just as Hotaru walked through the doorway. He glanced over at her and nodded in greeting, gesturing for her to join him and Hirano by the cabinet they were trying to open.

"You wanna have a peek? You know we're supposed to, right?" Hirano asked, not noticing the girl who just entered. Hotaru hit him on the back of the head for his perverted question.

"No, you're not supposed to. Let them have some privacy. After all, they're gonna be stuck with you two for a while." Hirano and Takashi looked at her with hurt in their eyes, offended by her last statement. "Oh, don't look at me like that. I was only joking. You two aren't that bad."

The boys got back to work on the cabinet while Hotaru sat on the bed, watching them struggle. "I'm gonna be really pissed off if there's nothing in here."

"There has to be. We found the ammunition, so there has to be something in here," Hirano explained.

"Well, doesn't matter. Let's do it!" They both got into position, ready to pull the cabinet door open with the crowbar. The counted to three and pushed on the crowbar, and the door swung open fairly easy. The two fell forward from the momentum and crashed flat on their faces. Hotaru burst out laughing at their misfortune and rolled around on the bed, eventually falling off. She curled up into a ball and tried to muffle her giggles. It didn't work very well.

Takashi finally got up from the ground and saw the guns in the cabinet they had opened. "Oh, hello," he said, satisfied with their find. Hirano heard him and sprang to his feet, pushing the other boy out of the way. He grinned maniacally and exclaimed, "I just knew it!"

Hotaru's laughter stopped abruptly at his exclamation and she quickly joined him. "Holy shiz! Those are some big-ass guns."

"So, she lives here with a friend of hers; isn't that right? Who is she? Sarah fuckin' Palin?" Takashi asked in disbelief.

Hirano shrugged and grabbed one of the guns from the cabinet. He inserted a round of bullets and cocked it. "Springfield M1A1 Super Match. It's semi-automatic. But M14 series full automatic is nothing but a waste of bullets anyway."

Takashi was trying to calm him down, but it wasn't working. Hirano went on, seemingly talking to himself. "I can put twenty bullets in the magazine. That's illegal in Japan. _Illegal._" He laughed madly and started to examine the other guns with Hotaru.

She cocked one of the guns that had a scope attached to it. "No! You can't get that in Japan. So they just completely modified and AR 1 10!"

"What's left in the locker is a crossbow. It's a descendant of the one Robin Hood used. Barnett Wildcat C5; made in Britain. You can even kill a bear with it!"

Hotaru reached in and grabbed the bow, along with its arrows. She slung the quiver over her head and examined the bow. "I'll be taking this."

Takashi then pulled another rifle out of the cabinet and held it up. Hirano gasped. "That's and Itacha M37 Riot Shotgun! It's a super sick shotgun made by Americans. It played a big part in the Vietnam War, too!"

"I see." Takashi cocked the shotgun and aimed it towards Hirano's head, trying to get a feel for it. Hirano gasped and freaked out.

"Are you nuts?! Don't point a thing like that at anyone; not even unloaded! But when you do, shoot to kill."

Takashi stared at him. "Roger that. I hope that's the only thing to point at. "

"You know, if it comes down to something like that…" He laughed, "If I happen to get bit, don't you think twice about blasting my head off."

"Yeah, same here."

Hirano, who was previously jumping around the room, aiming the crossbow at different angles, paused and glanced over at the two. "Me too! I don't particularly want my dead corpse to reanimate and walk around, eating other people." She laughed and continued her antics.

Hirano leaned forward and grinned. "It's a deal."

* * *

Hey guys! Here's another chapter. I'll have another one coming out real soon tonight, as an apology to my friend, to whom I promised a new chapter last night. Sorry, friend, I accidentally caught the lazy bug.

Well, see you in an hour or two,  
Jules


	4. Introducing: The Surprise Molester

The three sat on the floor of the bedroom, preparing the boxes of bullets for use. Hirano and Hotaru did most of the work, loading the bullets into the magazines and such. "Will you help, too, Komuro? It's a pain in the butt to put the bullets in."

Takashi glanced over at the boy fixing the bullet magazines. "Did you practice with airsoft guns?"

Hirano smirked. "No way. With the real ones."

"What are you saying? You've done this before?" Takashi asked in amazement.

"When I went to America, I was trained by this instructor. He used to work for a private military company, Black Water, for a month. He's an ex-captain of Delta Force."

Takashi couldn't believe what he was just told. "Oh my God. The class nerd's a firearms maniac. I'm really glad we're on the same side."

"Yeah…" The newly discovered gun expert sighed happily.

"And if that's your secret life, what's this chick's deal? These guns are definitely illegal, aren't they?"

"It's legal to purchase them in parts. But it is illegal if you put them together in this way. Whoever lives here definitely knows what they're doing. And that makes sense to me sense Miss Shizuka said that her roommate used to be in the military."

Hotaru decided to put her two cents in. "Well, she could have been in the military or the mafia. Blondie could have lied to protect her friend, because most people wouldn't trust mafia people. Though, I'm certain it's most likely the military. But it'd be cool if she _was_ in the mafia…." Takashi gave her a weird look, which gave her a sneaking suspicion that he thought she was crazy. Hirano, on the other hand, nodded in agreement. "Anyway, I think she was in the military because my father had a giant vault in our house where he kept all his weapons. It was hidden behind a tapestry in his bedroom, though, so no visitors would accidently discover it and freak out. What, Takashi? Don't give me that look. He was in the military!"

Takashi nodded apprehensively at her. "So you can get away with anything, as long as you're a cop."

"It's obvious the person isn't an ordinary citizen. An unmarried police officer usually lives in the dormitory, but to think this person is renting a room like this? Either her parents are rich, or the man she's dating is rich, or she's involved with some… funny business."

"Ha! So she could be in the mafia!"

* * *

Takashi looked out the window at their surrounding s with the binoculars he had found. They could hear the girls laughing from the bedroom, and both Hirano and Hotaru were starting to get worried about the noise they were making. Hirano looked in the direction of the bathroom. "They should probably hold it down in there."

"It's okay," Takashi told them. "I know they respond to what they hear, but they're not hearing the girls.

Hirano got up to join Takashi on the balcony, but Hotaru stayed sitting on the bed, playing around with her crossbow. Her guns were also spread around her on the bed, and she was getting ready to clean them. Takashi handed the binoculars to Hirano and headed back inside the bedroom. Suddenly, Hirano told Takashi to turn the TV on. Hotaru glanced up when she heard what was happening on the TV.

"Don't tolerate the tyranny of the police department! We strongly condemn this biological weapon, this circulation of "Killing Pandemic" developed by our government and America!"

It was some kind of riot, or protest the citizens were starting to stop the use of this so called "Killing Pandemic". The protestors were so loud the newscaster could barely be heard over their yelling. The three teens were very confused by this new event. They thought that was a ridiculous thing to call the cause of the zombie apocalypse.

"Killing Pandemic?" Takashi questioned.

"I guess they're talking about _them_," Hirano replied.

On the TV, the newscaster continued on, "We don't know what kind of group this is. But, according to the flyer that was distributed by the group, their main focus is to condemn those who allowed this "Killing Pandemic" to spread. It sounds like they believe…"

Takashi was surprised by this new information. "Are they serious?! What biological weapon? They know damn well that no kind of science can explain why dead corpses walk around eating people."

Hotaru turned towards him. "First of all, Takashi, you stole my line!" She held up her hand, counting on her fingers each point she made. "I said that last part of your last sentence before, when I was telling you guys to shoot me if I got bitten. Second of all, you never know what the government's doing in those experimentation centers they have. They never tell us anything. And third, you never know what the cause of this could be. It could be some virus scientists accidently created or some weird unnatural phenomenon."

Hirano shrugged, "You know this is just some government propaganda. Maybe the media…"

"Oh hush. The media ain't got anything to do with this thing…" She paused and gasped when she saw the main protestor had been shot by the police chief.

"Man, this is insane," Hirano said incredulously.

Takashi was just a surprised. "Holy shit. We need to get the fuck out of here."

"No way, Takashi! We can't leave now; they could attack us in the dark." Suddenly, Hirano gasped as somebody grabbed Takashi from behind. Hotaru turned around and groaned when she say a half-naked Miss Shizuka practically molesting the poor boy. Takashi pushed her away, accidently touching her breasts. There was a pause as they took in the suddenly awkward situation and Hirano gasped exaggeratedly. Takashi removed his hands and turned away in embarrassment. "Sorry 'bout that… Ok, look lady," He said, sounding very annoyed with the nurses antics. "This is not the time."

But, Miss Shizuka ignored him and wrapped her arms around him once again. She giggled. "Don't be like that! It's just a little kiss."

Miss Shizuka got bored with the struggling boy and noticed the two others in the room. Hirano was standing next to them, almost drooling. Hotaru, on the other hand, was crawling towards the door, trying to get away from the scene. The nurse giggled more and leapt off the bed, practically tackling the girl who was trying to sneak out. "And where do you think you're going? You didn't join us for the bath!"

"Get off me, Blondie!" Hotaru yelled as Miss Shizuka straddled her, preventing her from escaping. The older woman bounced up and down on the girl from excitement, trying to molest her like she did the other girls in the bathroom. "No, don't touch my boobs!"

Takashi stared at the girls in shock and felt pity for the blue-haired girl, though he was relieved the nurse wasn't bothering him anymore. Hirano, the pervert he was, watched the girls' struggle, blood leaking from his nose. Miss Shizuka finally climbed off the poor girl and sat down, yawning. Hotaru crawled away quickly, curling up in a corner of the room, her eyes wide and body shaking from trauma.

Takashi approached the yawning nurse cautiously. "You should keep it down. Please, go downstairs."

The nurse didn't listen to his warning and stood up, slumping over with exhaustion. "No, no way! I'm gonna stay here just like this." She yawned again. "Oh, I'm so tired I could just pass out."

"Miss Shizuka?" The nurse abruptly fell into Takashi, practically passing out. The boy looked over at Hirano, since he felt Hotaru could use a break from what she just experienced. "You know, you could help me out here."

Hirano, though, didn't turn around. He opened the door to the balcony and mumbled stupidly, "Huh? I like turtles."

Takashi turned back to the tired woman and decided to carry her downstairs. He lifted her onto his back. "Okay, hold on." But the nurse sighed and fell back, unbalanced. Takashi tried to prevent her from falling and accidently grabbed her butt. He blushed from embarrassment as Miss Shizuka went on about him being a bad boy. He stuttered nervously before sighing and heading downstairs. Leaving the traumatized Hotaru and bleeding Hirano upstairs.

* * *

There you go, guys. One last chapter for a week or two. I'm gonna be a junior camp counselor for the next 8 week, so it'll be a little harder to update. I still have nights and weekends, though!

See you later,  
Jules


	5. Introducing: A Perverted Teenage Boy

After Takashi took Miss Shizuka downstairs, Hotaru rose from her curled up position in the corner and walked over to the bed, mumbling about crazy nurse ladies. She continued to clean her guns and reload them until she noticed Hirano wasn't in the room. Remembering that she saw him walk out to the balcony, she stepped out to see what he was doing. He was sitting at the far side of the balconies, looking out in the distance with the binoculars.

"See anything interesting?"

Hirano turned around and shook his head. He smiled dumbly when he remembered what happened and faced the distance again. Hotaru walked over and leaned against the railing next to him. She looked at his face only to see his nose bleeding slightly and her eyes narrowed a little. "Are you okay, Hirano? Your nose is bleeding."

He quickly wiped at the blood and smiled nervously at her. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. I get nosebleeds a lot, that's all. Mostly 'cause of the cold, but I don't know why tonight. I mean, it's not cold, it's really hot. That was hot. You're hot…" He trailed off and grinned.

Hotaru punched his arm. "You pervert! You enjoyed watching me get molested by Blondie, didn't you? How disgusting!"

He blushed and backed away from her to avoid her violent actions. "No, I didn't! I swear. Ouch, stop it! That hurts!"

She stopped her onslaught and glared at him. "I don't believe you. I saw your nose bleeding and I know what that means." She huffed and walked towards the sliding door. "I'm gonna go take a bath now that the others are done. When you're over your perverted thoughts, maybe we can talk again."

Hirano blushed at the thought of her taking a bath. He giggled and followed after her. "Okay."

Hotaru heard his footsteps following her inside and turned around. Her face got red with anger. "And you can't come with me!"

He pouted. "Okay…" He slumped over dejectedly and walked back outside, leaving the door open this time. Hotaru smiled at his cute actions. Wait, what was she thinking?

She shook her head and continued walking towards the stairs. "I'll see you later."

* * *

"Hirano-" Takashi paused when the boy on watch motioned for him to be quiet; he had come to the balcony to check on their other expert gunman. "What?"

"Bad news, man."

Takashi walked towards Hirano and they stood at the railing, watching as the zombies below swarmed the street, especially around the duplex.

"So, what are we going to do now? I'm getting bored just sitting around this place and I really want to try out this new bow."

The boys flinched when they heard a voice speak from the doorway. They turned around and saw that it was Hotaru, Saeko standing behind her. The girl's blue hair was wet from the bath she just took, and was wearing a new set of clothes. Hotaru wore a beige hoodie and army green shorts, the matching suspenders hanging loose down her thighs. She had her black combat boots and fingerless gloves from before, but wore a new army green cap on her head, her sunglasses resting on the brim. Slung over her shoulder was her worn, brown messenger bag and her new favorite toy, the Barnett crossbow, with its matching set of arrows.

Saeko slid past Hotaru as the boys stared at the girl, in awe of her transformation. She grabbed the binoculars from a gaping Hirano and looked out at the zombies crawling in the street. "It's worse," she determined. "It's getting much worse."

"Dammit." Takashi said, frustrated. "That's it. I can't stand it." He stalked towards the door, almost bumping into Hotaru who was making her way over towards them. She jumped out of the way and scurried towards Hirano, deciding it was safer over there, away from an angry Takashi.

"Komuro!" Hirano yelled, stopping Takashi in his tracks.

The thinner boy turned around, annoyed that he was stopped. "Yeah, what?"

"You shoot them, but then what?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Takashi asked angrily. "I'll shoot them and protect-"

"What happened? Did you forget?" Saeko asked. She turned around and started to walk back towards the bedroom, her indecency causing Hirano's nose to erupt with blood. "They react to every little sound, Komuro."

Hotaru watched as Takashi followed the scantily dressed girl into the bedroom, the lights slowly dimming. She tuned out their conversation and turned towards the perverted boy collapsed on the floor and lightly kicked him. "Seriously? Now's not the time."

The boy just giggled, causing Hotaru to sigh in defeat. "You're hopeless." She slid down next to him and huffed resting her head on the railing. Takashi walked back out to the sight of Hirano's nose bleeding and Hotaru sitting next to him in a resigned position. Hirano's head swiveled towards the other boy as he walked over.

"Unh, try to keep it down when you check out there, will ya?" He warned, his voice containing a nasally sound from trying to stop the blood flow. Takashi didn't reply as he looked out at the surrounding areas. The sights of the zombies feeding disgusted him.

"It's all gone to hell!" He exclaimed to himself as he watched a man run down the street with a little girl at his side.

He stood there, horrified, as the man was killed and zombies started to swarm the girl. Hirano and Hotaru jumped up beside him when they heard the child's loud sobs. Hirano grabbed his gun and aimed at the dead surrounding her.

"Rock and roll!" He exclaimed, firing the gun. "That's what you ugly deadbeats get for trying to go after a little girl like that. You want something to eat how about you munch on some of these. Ready, aim, dinner time!" He continued shooting the zombies, each shot hitting its mark.

Hotaru grabbed one of her pistols and started firing with him. "Yeah, motherfuckers! What he said!"

"Hirano!"

"What?" The boy in mention asked, annoyed that Takashi wanted to stop his shooting.

"I thought you said you weren't going to shoot. That you didn't want to make noise so we wouldn't attract any attention."

Hirano freaked out, appalled at Takashi's statements. "But it's a little girl we're talking about!" He turned around to give orders to the other boy. "You go get her. Hotaru and I will cover you from up here."

Takashi turned around to do just that, satisfied with the turn of events.

* * *

Hey guys, sorry for the wait. I had camp for the last three weeks and I have been so tired lately. Sorry.  
But, I'm free the next two weeks, so I'll get working on more chapters.

P.S. I have discovered Polyvore, if any of you know what that is, and I have created a set for Hotaru's new outfit for all you people who need a visual. If you want one for her first outfit, tell me.  
Here's the link:  
surviving_apocal...

Sayonara,  
Jules


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